Metro East Sun

State Rep. Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville) expressed frustration that lawmakers spent a week doing nothing in Springfield. Her comments came after the House adjourned just 10 minutes into a session.

Bourne also pointed out the standstill in the state's redistricting process.

"I want to kick off by starting to speak about an issue that we've talked about a lot recently which is the redistricting process. Unfortunately, and disappointingly we got through another week in the legislature without any meaningful work on an open, transparent process for redrawing our legislative districts."

Bourne also emphasized the need for ethics reform as she called out the majority for lack of bipartisan cooperation in regard to the redistricting process.

"The majority party has moved backwards and backtracked on this issue … those in the House Democratic caucus saying basically they’re doing the same process they've done before," she said. “They are mapping in the same room that Madigan mapped in 10 years ago and they don't seem to see an issue with that. The problem is that voters and Illinoisans across the state, the governor, members of the majority party have expressed concern with this process over the last decade and have gone so far as to vote for proposals in the past that would change this process. The clock is certainly ticking on this issue. This is of great importance for our state over the next ten years. We cannot afford another decade of politicians picking their voters.”

Offering an honest assessment of the House session she deemed too short, Bourne told reporters that she and her Republican colleagues were there “for under 10 minutes and did not have a single bill be called on the house floor for a vote this week.”

"We've got four topics that we think are important to every Illinoisan," she said during the question -and-answer portion of the news conference. "I'm not sure that a single one of those has been allowed a vote specifically on the House floor. We're here to offer solutions. We're here to work on the tough issues, and it seems like the majority party is not willing."

She also stressed the number of Republican bills, totaling more than 80 proposals, still stuck in committees and have yet to reach the House floor.